Free walking tour showcases area’s outdoor art collection

Saturday

Jul 12, 2014 at 8:00 AMJul 12, 2014 at 12:28 PM

By Tyler RudickRockford Register Star

“Love it or hate it, this is probably the city’s best-known piece of art,” Lori Walsh explains as she leads a small group beneath Symbol, the de facto centerpiece of the Rockford Park District’s celebrated Public Art Walking Tour along the Rock River Recreation Path.

A 30-ton assemblage of bright red tubular forms, the towering sculpture sparks a light-hearted debate among the crowd, with comments ranging from “inspiring” to “a complete waste of tax dollars.”

Walsh, a high school art instructor by trade, offers a brief history of the piece and its designer, magazine editor-turned-sculptor Alexander Liberman. Contrary to popular belief, she notes that the artist’s intent was not to develop a literal symbol of Rockford. Instead, Liberman sought to create an abstract sculpture symbolizing what he called a “spiritually uplifting feeling” during the piece’s dedication ceremony in 1978.

Though somewhat unconvinced by the sculptor’s claim, the group happily agrees that the monumental work now stands as an essential part of the city’s identity.

“Good public art has this wonderful ability to connect people to their community in unexpected ways,” Walsh says during the walk. “And, here in Rockford, we’re lucky enough to have such a great collection of outdoor art.”

Like many of the works featured on the free 80-minute tour, Liberman’s piece began its days elsewhere in town (at State and Wyman streets downtown), only to be thoughtfully relocated to a mile-long stretch that straddles the busy Rock River Recreation Path.

In the past decade, the strong support of local art collectors, businesses and city officials has brought more than a dozen additions to a strip of green space reserved for the area’s most beloved public sculptures.

Large works formerly confined to private backyards and office centers now enjoy thousands of annual visitors at sites that offer a range of new artistic meaning.

Once a popular target for vandals at the downtown library, J. Seward Johnson’s surprisingly realistic statue of a photographer currently spends its days tricking riverside park-goers.

A rotating flower-shaped piece by Minimalist sculptor Robert Mangold, meanwhile, has become a kid-favorite at the Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens, while also serving as a focal point for a garden designed to filter rainwater runoff from a nearby parking lot.

A different piece, O.V. Shaffer’s Dancers, made its way from CherryVale Mall in Cherry Valley.

Positioned at the Ethel Avenue entrance on North Second Street, Suspended Motion by noted area artist Gene Horvath proves one of the most compelling relocation tales.

Commissioned by the Baldwin Enkel Corporation in the mid-1980s, the piece was designed to evoke the sleek industrial parts manufactured at the company’s Rockford plant. Today, thanks to Baldwin Enkel’s donation, the stainless steel piece beckons street traffic into the gardens, bridging the world of rushing metal cars with the peaceful, pedestrian-friendly park.

The Rockford Park District’s free Public Art Walking Tour departs at 11 a.m. every Thursday through Aug. 14 from the lobby of Nicholas Conservatory, 1354 N. Second St., Rockford. For more information, call 815-987-8858 or visit rockfordparkdistrict.org.

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